How Vic Michaelis and Jacquis Neal Joined Dropout

Can I tell you my hot take

Chiropractors are boys that aren't comfortable calling themselves witches. I love my chiropractor

I love this, but also that feels very accurate. So I wanted a chiropractor because I have a horrendous back because I do this all day

because I'm a typing gremlin at my job. And I went to a chiropractor because everybody on TikTok had all the cracking

And he doesn't do any of that. And so I thought I was getting scammed, but my back has been infinitely better

But he does say things like that. or like yeah I you know I moved and it was really stressful and so I came in to see him and it was

the first time all week that I had allowed myself like to be still and quiet so I had like an

emotional breakdown like I was just weeping and he was very caring about it and like he grabbed

me with the shoulders and he goes hey the universe is with you and like I'm not like a astrology

girly at all but like I believed that so deeply I am a scorpio yeah it makes sense really people

never get that. Why do you think that makes sense? Because you were like, I don't believe in astrology

Scorpio. Easy Scorpio. I don't know. At all. What's your sign? Libra. Yeah

No, why does that make sense? I don't know. Because I'm in balance. I'm balanced. That's what I know

It's the scales. I would say like everything I know about astrology, Oscar Montoya and

Ali Beardsley have sort of, every two years. Oscar I can see

every two years Allie Beardsley is somebody that I think is like I think could we're so lucky that

they're on our side because I think that so like there is an alt world where they're like off grid

uh and you know what I mean like I think that we're lucky that they they have so much light

in them because I think that they could be an excellent weapon for the enemy man man that makes

sense that makes sense but so they they're both really into it and so you've gotten more into

astrology well i just feel like every two years ellie beardsley's like do you have co-star and i'm like oh i gotta redownload this thing and then yeah they and oscar sort of like go through

my chart and say things where i go they go the chart never changes right it shouldn't change no

but then they'll sort of give me new piece of information okay okay and so i'm just truly

repeating things that they have said i mean do you have systems like that that like make you feel

comforted do you no you answer you gotta ask you I don't you answer it's you nope come on you do

not have anything where you're just like this is sort of like my system that I believe not really

no no I like I don't I mean I grew up religious but I left that behind a long time ago yeah just

be a good person yeah I'm not a religious person yeah I don't I don't know when people like I'm

spiritual person I don't think of myself as that but I yeah in times of great stress I'm I'm I'm

looking for something I believe having faith is good yeah like you can have faith in a lot of stuff

so but I'm like because it's so interesting too because I'm like I when I think about like the

generous people that I know in my life with like time and energy and also resources I think you

have to be in like the top three of people that I know and I'm like so whatever you are doing

whatever that like system is yeah I think is something that like if people were asking sort

of like if I don't want a religious based system like who is somebody that I could like look to for

what they're doing I think you are probably somebody that I would point to honestly it's just yeah you know my I have one I have one true belief uh is that the only thing that you

run out of in life is time everything else you can you can have a lot of it you can get it back

you truly only run out of time so I just like you know try not to waste people's time

That is so funny. I'm not kidding. That is exactly my belief system also

Yeah. Which is that the only thing that we will never replenish is the amount of time that we have

And so you've got to make choices based on not wasting your time and not wasting people's time. Not wasting my time, wasting people's time, and respecting people's time and energy

Sure, yeah. Like, with the time they give you. I totally agree with that. That's so funny. We've never talked about that

Yeah, that's truly the only thing I – that's the biggest – my biggest belief

Is that. Like, don't waste the audience's time. Don't waste, like, the performer's time

But also, it's just, you know, our shit is so structured. And there's, like, spontaneity and lucidity

I don't think that's a word. But, like, you know, there's lucidity. You get it

But I think you know there a lot of that in it too But yeah you know it just make sure everybody having a good time Like time is the thing Make sure everybody having a good time

Make sure everybody's time feels like this has been earned and given and respected and all that good shit

Jacise, what would you do if you could do anything? This is so bad. I want to learn how to play piano

You could do that. I know that's like everybody wants to play an instrument, but I would love to like just learn how to play piano

And you've got a great voice. So I feel like that would be fun to sort of be able to do. I just want to like have the dexterity

Sure. Sure. Because that's the hardest. I mean, music is hard. But that would feel like the hardest part

I never got to learn an instrument. Part of it was that my parents asked me when I was a kid and I said no because I thought

that sounded uncool, but I thought they would push me into it and I kind of secretly wanted that. Yeah

And we didn't unpack that until like probably five years ago. I was like, you guys never made me learn an instrument

Like you said no. And I was like, you didn't listen to me so much of the time. Why is that the moment

Yeah. And then like my first boyfriend said he would teach me to play guitar. but he was a liar

Liar. And he basically used it as an excuse because he thought then we would just make out the whole time

And I was like, no, but I want to learn to play guitar. And he's like, your hands are too small. And so that was, yeah

I'm sad that that was genuinely why I stopped playing guitar. I had a shitty boyfriend at like 14

It's weird the stuff that sticks with you too, eh? I'm like, I one time had a casting director look at my

I had my hair back in a ponytail and they were like, huh. And I was like, what? And they were like, oh no, it's just really interesting

that like your ears are just like pretty unsymmetrical. And I was like, oh, huh

I've never really thought about it like that before, but I guess you are empirically correct

I had a makeup artist do that. It was an on-camera interview for a junket

and she was touching up my makeup, and she said, do you pluck your eyebrows

And I lied and said yes, because I thought it was what you're supposed to say or do

And she was like, you've really over plucked. They're sparse. And then I felt really embarrassed

because I've never plucked my eyebrows, and that is just what they look like. that I had to go sit in front of a famous person who had been professionally groomed

But, plus side to the story, it was Jeff Goldblum, and he actually complimented my entire outfit

The best. So, yeah, I kind of want to go back to that makeup artist and be like, for the record, my eyebrows might be patchy

But Jeff Goldblum said he liked my outfit and my style. I went to this learning disability school after I was asked not to come back to college

and uh they uh it's there's this thing at this school specifically uh where it's like mss which

is motor sequencing skills uh i there's been plenty of research into this but i don't know

that there's enough that it's like scientifically conclusive or anything like that but it's this

idea of like how they do it is they have tracing sheets and you start off with like big things

identical symbols and you just go down the line and you trace them as precisely as possible with

like as fast as you can. And once you can get it under a certain time, very precisely

you move on to another thing and it's different symbols, but there's more of them and they're smaller and they just get more and more and more. And that basically exercises as part of your brain

that's motor sequencing skills, which helps with like memory and balance and hand eye coordination

And for me, I have like a, like a memory disorder. So I'm like, I'm very bad at short-term memory

stuff. Once I can lock it into my long-term memory, it's no problem. But like, so knitting

it's the same thing it's just a bunch of small repetitive patterns that you can do over and over

again without like uh with it sort of like hitting that like short-term piece of your mind without it

like locking into a long-term piece where you're just doing it over and over and over again and so

that helps with stuff like that oh that's really interesting yeah I was knitting scares me because

I'm just I feel like that you've isn't it like counting in math it is I do just a basic knit

over and over again and I just do it as fast as I can and I do it mindlessly there's some people I

think they get once you get good enough at it I think you can do some of like the like if you want

to do a pattern or a sweater or something like that you got to think a little bit more about it but if you just want to do granny squares and stitch them together or whatever at the end

that's what I do well speaking to that so crowd control like from a perspective of someone who

likes watching dropout we got to see the game changer episode and then it felt like the season came so fast obviously that's not true but I'm curious from your perspective like what was that

timeline like that oh that was interesting uh because that it did come fast because we were done

with the season before the pilot came out. What? I didn't know that

That's wild. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So we had shot all six episodes, I think

We wrapped in early April, and that episode didn't come out until summer

or something like that So then you in a unique position where it not even being nervous about your show premiering but that that episode takes off Yeah Because literally before I stepped through the curtain for the first time of recording it was like all right I don know what to expect

Because I hadn't even really seen it. I saw the editing process of the original Game Changer pilot, but I'm like, I don't know what this show is because I'm not Sam

We're changing it up a little bit. uh so for me like there was no expectation but there was still pressure like this has to be good

also even if this is good if that episode is not good and people are like this is a dumb show

i'm already yeah i'm already like nothing i did mattered uh and i know that's not true but like

you know yeah it was it was weird it was weird but you know i trusted sam and i trusted you know

the powers to be. Sam has like a, like it's one of his biggest assets

like in his position, I think is like, he does have a twofold

a very good sense of like things like that. Cause again, like to green light the season prior to the episode

even airing, like it's pretty wild. He's got a good hit rate of knowing when he

when things, after he's seen things, knowing what the edit's going to look like and going like, I think this is going to be successful

And then he's also got a really good sense of who to put in sort of like

the position to like lead the ship on those things like yeah all of the hosts that he's picked for the shows are people that care a lot about the thing that they're doing like yeah you

me rake a lily like just like i i think like a bunch of people down the board that just like

care way too much and spend too much time like focusing and are all like very studious when it

comes to comedy i think in a lot of ways yeah yeah i think too like because yeah there's no

misses i drop out used to have a show player by ear you guys remember that of course and like

I mean, not to give people too much behind the scenes, but me and Manu were kind of toward the end of the audition process for hosting that

And it went to the right person. Manu was great. He was fantastic

And that was a perfect show vehicle for him. But I was just offered crowd control

I was like, oh, if I get another hosting opportunity, I'll audition for it

And I was just offered it. You were offered VIP as well. And it's just like Sam just knowing like, all right, I think this person will work

And I was like, hey, man, we trust you. Was that how it played out for the rookie? Yeah, they just sort of had like sent it over to us

Well, Sam just sort of randomly texted me and was like, there's this like weird opportunity that came up that's about to like come into your inbox

And it's like, you know, to get to perform on like a network TV show

I feel like, you know, so often a lot of our first gigs are auditioning for like small parts on these network TV shows

So for one to just sort of like fall in your lap like that, it was crazy

To play a version of yourself. I was going to say, also to play yourself, like Vic themselves

It's also so crazy because like, I don't know if you relate to this at all, but like the dropout Vic Michaelis is not Vic Michaelis

No. And so it also is like, it is still like a weird character version of yourself

but it was also crazy because like we were so certain until the week that it

came out that it was an episode of Game Changer. They built our, I'm not kidding

they built our entire set the week before we started filming actual Game Changer

No, it was rookie. They built it. It was insane. Like, we don't film at Dropouts

we don't film Game Changer at Dropout Studio anymore, but they built the set at Dropout Studio

So we were walking onto the Game Changer set at Dropout Studio

it was it was the most surreal experience and I did send Sam a video and I was like I

if this is an episode of Game Changer I'm never speaking to you

I mean that has to be true because it was funny because we talked about this before but the one

year thing made fans be aware that even if they see you guys outside it still can be a Game Changer

right yeah what is reality are we on an episode of Game Changer yes and now we have Sam

Yeah. Oh, my God. Well, he one time in an email like three years ago was like, hey, if you'd be comfortable not knowing you're on an episode of Game Changer, let us know

And all of us were kind of like, yeah, sure. I guess why not? Like a surprise episode of Game Changer could be interesting

And it has ruined all of our lives. Yeah. I think. Right

I mean like Sam also he sent out an email about like hey I want to go like do some escape rooms or play these games and at the end of it he had to specify I promise this is not a game changer episode

He now has to end every conversation like that unfortunately. I think he's like slowly starting to earn back people's trust but it really it really is just like I don't know when unfortunately when you're a puppet master like that it's like you get a lot of good things that come with that but then you also sort of have your your coworkers and your friends thinking you're

constantly trying to trick and trap them. That's funny. And then he kind of got a bit of comeuppance on that with the episode where

he thought he's doing a variety shoot. Oh yeah. That was fun. That was fun to watch

He's the only one that's been on a surprise episode of Game Changer, actually. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah

That was fun to watch. That was super fun to watch. That was crazy. We literally filmed at a castle on election night

Yeah. I remember that. There was no service. So we go up there and we all

as we're packing up for the night, as we're coming down the hill, start getting service

And that's how we found out the election result. Wow. I think I was literally watching a horror movie

That was how I was coping that night and doing an embroidery. I truly don't remember what I was doing that night

I think I just turned the TV off. Like, I was just like, I'm going to get high and just carry on

I had an allergic reaction on set. Oh. Yeah, I had to

So I ended up in the hospital. woke up the next day sort of like damn off of all that's like a twilight zone episode yes and then

literally uh yeah it was brandon going have you checked your phone and i was like oh no and he's

like yeah damn all right and it was a game changer episode we are nearly out of time but i did want

to circle back something you mentioned which is being early in your career i love asking people

Like what was the project that got you your like SAG-AFTRA card

Oh, I, for me, I think the one that, so I bought in from

because I started my career in Canada. So it's ACTRA up there

Shout out ACTRA. And I was in a Monistat commercial where I played uncomfortable friend number two

So how it would have worked is... You remember your lines? You would have been uncomfortable

No one. All right. I'm uncomfortable. you're uncomfortable, but you're sort of like

so you have a yeast infection. So you're sort of like cross your legs. You're uncomfortable. We're the two university friends

We're uncomfortable sitting next to this person. We're not, that was going to be my question. Like

are you yeast infection, uncomfortable? Or like, why are you being weird? Jackie's yeast infection

uncomfortable. You and I are right. There's a, we're in a university lecture room. So we're literally it

We're writing down our stuff and you are looking at the board and I do this

Is this, is this how people, I've never had a yeast infection. Am I doing it

You're doing it. Perfect. That's great. That is the telltale sign of I have a yeast infection

So that was how I ended up with my actor card. And then when I moved down, I..

It translates? Yes. Oh, that's cool. It's a reciprocal union. So I was able to just buy my SAG card, which I thought was good

But then everybody was like, why would you do that? Now you can't do any non-union commercials

Yeah. But I love my union. You're doing what you have to. I love the union. Love the union. This is going to be a fun tie-in

My SAG after card. Also a yeast infection commercial. I got a yeast infection commercial

I played a man in the background who was upset. No, I'm joking

I was like, you always got yeast infections. But I had just changed agents

and within like two weeks of being with that agent, I booked a Toyota campaign

So three commercials with Toyota. It was just super fun. And I was like, you have to join SAG

Like, you have to join SAG now. So I joined SAG. And on that commercial, my co-star on all three of commercials had just booked Series Regular for The Rookie

No way! It was Nathan Fillion? It was Nathan Fillion. No, no, no

His name was Titus. He is no longer, he got killed off

But he was on the original, like, couple seasons of The Rookie. Oh! Yeah, he had just booked it, like, a week or so

Oh, that must have been made for, like, an excellent vibe on set. He was great. Especially like just getting like a job that is probably, you know, like changed his life in a lot of ways

That's crazy. It was great. So, yeah, that's when I got my sad cart

I was working with Titus and I forgot the other dude's name

Trayvon. It was an all black Toyota commercial. Whoa, that's awesome. It was beautiful

It was great